A caster wheel assembly provides support and mobility for various articles, such as, for example, furniture and other articles such as storage boxes, file cabinets, book shelves, etc.
Wheel assemblies that may be adhesively secured to an article are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,751 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,240. Other types of wheel assemblies may be secured to an article by inserting a caster stem, sometimes called a pintle, into a mounting socket in the article. The wheel(s) section of the wheel assembly may roll and in some wheel assemblies the wheel(s) section may swivel about the caster stem. Other types of wheel assemblies may be secured to an article by screws or nails.
As an example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,751 a caster wheel assembly includes a mounting plate to which a wheel is attached by an axle and adhesive structure that adhesively secures the mounting plate to a surface of an article. As an example, the axle may be generally parallel to a surface along which the wheel may roll in a generally linear direction, e.g., “back and forth,” as the wheel rotates about the axle. Examples of articles to which the caster wheel assembly may be attached include wooden, plastic, cardboard or metal storage cabinets, tool chests, bookshelves, trash cans, other furniture, luggage and so on.
As another example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,240 a caster wheel component is able to swivel so that the luggage or other article to which it is attached is able to roll in different directions. A wheel structure rotatably supports a wheel for rotation about an axle; and the wheel structure is supported from a metal base plate by means of a roller bearing structure permitting the wheel structure to swivel relative to the base plate, which is coupled to the luggage or other article.